samizdat

sa·miz·dat

noun \ˈsä-mēz-ˌdät\

Definition of SAMIZDAT

: a system in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and countries within its orbit by which government-suppressed literature was clandestinely printed and distributed; also : such literature

Origin of SAMIZDAT

Russian, from sam- self- + izdatel'stvo publishing house

First Known Use: 1967

Other Government and Politics Terms

agent provocateur, agitprop, autarky, cabal, egalitarianism, federalism, hegemony, plenipotentiary, popular sovereignty, socialism

Rhymes with SAMIZDAT

aeronaut, aliquot, angle shot, apparat, apricot, aquanaut, argonaut, astronaut, beauty spot, bergamot, booster shot, burning ghat, cachalot, Camelot, caveat, carry-cot, chamber pot, chimney pot, coffeepot, cosmonaut, counterplot, doodley-squat, floreat, flowerpot, flying spot, follow shot, gallipot, granny knot, guillemot, Gujarat, hit the spot, honeypot, Hottentot, Huguenot, juggernaut, kilowatt, Lancelot, like a shot, lobster pot, megawatt, melting pot, microdot, monocot, monoglot, noble rot, Nouakchott, ocelot, on the spot, overshot, paraquat, parking lot, passing shot, patriot, pepper pot, peridot, piping hot, polka dot, polyglot, running knot, sansculotte, scattershot, scot and lot, shoulder knot, single knot, Southern blot, stopper knot, surgeon's knot, terawatt, tie the knot, tommyrot, touch-me-not, tracking shot, turkey trot, underplot, undershot, Western blot, Windsor knot, Wyandot, wyandotte

samizdat

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

System whereby literature suppressed by the Soviet government was clandestinely written, printed, and distributed; also, the literature itself. Samizdat began appearing in the 1950s, first in Moscow and Leningrad, then throughout the Soviet Union. It typically took the form of carbon copies of typewritten sheets that were passed from reader to reader. The subjects included dissident activities, protests addressed to the regime, transcripts of political trials, analyses of socioeconomic and cultural themes, and even pornography. Samizdat disappeared when media outlets independent of the government emerged in the early 1990s.